Like many of you, prowling around for viewpoints and seeing an argument develope and flesh out is usually a lot of fun for me.
However, the more I look at the role of the US in the current war scene in Lebanon, the more concerned I am becoming that neo-con/Bush support and likely "behind-the-scenes" egging on, if not outright orchestration of the current attack by the Olmert Regime in Israel, the more worried I get. The neo-con scheme was cockamamie right from page one, and the attempt to rout Hizbullah by brute military force alone has blown back badly at the Israeli's already.
So let's look around a little.
More below the fold.
I am sure all of us have already seen
Professor Cole's take and reasoning on the current mess, and I highly recommend reading this entry of his all the way through, even if you have already. Read it again.
Then there is the contentious issue of Israel perhaps letting the rockets kill a number of it's citizens. I see some hidden comments about this and perhaps we should start here for a lead to the source. Tom Ricks' statements have already been discussed here, but Kurt's take on this is interesting.
Then, we seem to be getting views about what exactly Hizbullah is, and what it is all about. From Professor Cole, to Professor Abu Khalil, we have seen scholorly descriptions already, but for an interesting view at Hizbullah, check this one by By "WarNerd" Gary Brecher. Gary is kind of unusual, and may not appeal to everyone. But he is interesting. Be sure and follow his links to his earlier articles
Lastly, I found these two items at ICH to be heartbreaking.
The first is Robert Fisk's "July 31 to August 5" story at the Independent, entitled Slaughter in Qana
Then there is the YouTube based, very grim, call for a cease fire video, right here
So, what does the boilerman think about this?
Well, to me, it looks like the neo-cons are taking one last stab at making their weltanshauung a valid one, through another war, like the gambler going double or nothing at the tables. Lebanon is a proxy for Iran, not so much Syria, but Iran. And this ties back to those "resource control" theories mentioned by Professor Cole and others
The other thing that bothers me is the hooting and hollering in religious wingnut land about how the end times "really are close now!" This noise reminds me of Eddie Murphy trying to stretch his case and hefty exenditures out for a while longer to Inspector Todd in "Beverly Hills Cop." Murphy says "I'm so close, I can smell it; can you smell it?" Inspector Todd replies, "What I smell is your bullshit!" How Christian and Jewish religious leaders on the edges can on the one hand want to don the mantle of Rabbi Hillil of "Golden Rule" fame on one hand, and yet scream for sectarian slaughter and murder on the other hand is quite disturbing to me. It is like the religious parties in the Semetic world are going insane, and they are dragging us along with them.